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KPNQWest Admins Keep Bankrupt Network Running

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the beyond-the-call-of-duty dept.

sebastianw writes "Some of the network administrators from KPNQWest, although they have been (apparently) ordered to shutdown the network, took over control of the KPNQWest NOC. They are trying to keep the network running and keep customers up, regardless of KPNQWest's insolvency. The company warned on Thursday that they would be forced to shut down KPNQwest's entire European data network on Monday unless its customers paid their bills in full immediately." There's a related story on the Register, talking about the possible effect on UK internet access. If anyone needs to hire some network engineers...

8 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. At least it's efficient by ThesQuid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It makes you wonder just how many people they really need to run such a network.

    It appears to be less than the number they thought.

    1. Re:At least it's efficient by ch-chuck · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Reminds me of when Verizon's staff took industrial action (strike) a couple of years ago for the Communication Workers of America union - one industry wag wrote in Network Computing, "Did anybody notice when Verizons 800,000 employees went on strike? Neither did I". But seriously, no new lines were installed, and I'm sure all the maintenance work would have soon caught up with what little mgmt could do to run such a network.

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
  2. Re:Internet COULD be free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    For an example of how efficient governmental run organizations are, see the US Post Office, or the ex-Soviet Union's agriculture ministry. Brilliant idea.

  3. Re:noc admins by Jonny+Ringo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Right, but what award will they recieve for their efforts? Their company doesn't seem to care, so their company obvously won't reward them (they're going against orders). Customers, obvously like this but appears that a lot of these customers aren't even paying their bills.

    If I was a admin for that company, I'd be like fuck it.

  4. Re:Internet COULD be free by Brightest+Light · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Riiiight....


    And as an added bonus, the gov'ts will not have to fight with ISP's in order to get carnivore, echelon, and whatever else on the network.

  5. Re:noc admins by hollow_man · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's not forget that whilst the guys are fighting to save the main NOC and keeping it running, other temporary NOCs have sprung up and the old KQ NOC in The Hague has also been resurrected.

    We're all working very hard to make sure that disruption to our customers stays limited to the absolute minimum and all techies in this company have now shown to management that they can make their stand in the darkest hour of this company.

    Needless to say I'm proud to work with these guys.

    --
    Full Time Idiot and Miserable Sod
    Nothing is real but the pain
  6. Not Linux, Cisco and Fiberthings and HVAC by billstewart · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The parts of KPNQwest that everybody's worried about these days aren't running either Linux or Windows - they're routers (probably Cisco) and fiber muxes of various sorts (which do have OSs for their configuration and user interfaces) and the air conditioners for the rooms the equipment runs in. Both non-HVAC categories are pretty reliable as long as there aren't technicians adding or changing things and as long as nobody backhoes any important circuits.

    There are other parts of KPNQwest that do run on general-purpose computers, such as the administrative and billing databases, network management systems, etc. Probably some are running Windows or Linux, and others are probably running Solaris or HPUX.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  7. Bankrupt due to high expenses ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If you look at the quality of the tables, chairs and LCD monitors, someone has been on quite a shopping spree...

    One can only guess if they have been throwing similar amounts of money on everything else. In that case no wonder they could make ends meet.

    Ever heard of a tightly run ship ?